Walks

Palma, a literary city

Courtyards, ancestral homes and the sound of bells

The tour takes us from a cultural centre, La Misericòrdia, to another Can Alcover – Espai de Cultura through streets, squares and gardens that tell us about the history of the city across time. The walk combines local and foreign voices; stories of falling in and out of love, stories of fascination and war; areas laden with the memory of all the texts that they have inspired. A stroll by the side of the best writers – Josep Pla, Jorge Luis Borges, Albert Camus, Joan Alcover – around a city where, between the buzz of the urban centre and the bustle of tourism, bells still ring and you can hear the sound of footsteps in the narrow and old streets.

CC LA MISERICÒRDIA, Palma

JARDINS DE LA MISERICÒRDIA: Bartomeu Rosselló-Pòrcel
LA RAMBLA: Georges Bernanos
PLAÇA MAJOR: Ramon Llull
GRAN HOTEL: Miquel dels Sants Oliver
ES BORN: Josep Pla
PLAÇA DE LA REINA: Mario Verdaguer
LA LLONJA: Arxiduc Lluís Salvador
LA SEU: Jorge Luis Borges
CENTRE HISTÒRIC: Llorenç Villalonga
CALL JUEU: Bartomeu Fiol
SANT FRANCESC: Albert Camus
CAN ALCOVER: Joan Alcover

CAN ALCOVER, Palma

From Deià to Valldemossa

The discovered land

The shortest walk is also the most laden with voices: Deià and Valldemossa form a focal point for writers, artists and travellers, who have taken root in this part of the island, stunned by its beauty and power. It is a walk with many names, names of places and people: first Robert Graves, since we start from his Majorcan home Ca n’Alluny; in Miramar, two other travellers spent a long time there, Ramon Llull and Archduke Ludwig Salvator of Austria. And in Valldemossa, there are the fevered and disillusioned voices of George Sand and Chopin, in the old Carthusian monastery. The walk connects the sea and the mountains, in the heart of the Serra de Tramuntana – a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

CA N’ALLUNY, Deià

MIRADOR DEL CEMENTIRI: Robert Graves
CALA DEIÀ: Anaïs Nin
SON MARROIG, DEIÀ: Jules Verne
SON MARROIG, DEIÀ: Julio Cortázar
SA FORADADA: Charles W. Wood
MIRAMAR, VALLDEMOSSA: Ramon Llull
MIRAMAR, VALLDEMOSSA: Santiago Russinyol
JARDINS DE LA CARTOIXA, VALLDEMOSSA: Frédéric Chopin
MIRANDA DELS LLEDONERS, VALLDEMOSSA: George Sand
PLAÇA DE LA CARTOIXA, VALLDEMOSSA: Rubén Darío

From Bearn to Solnegre

Fictions and literary myths

Thanks to literature new paths open up before us: these are the paths inspired by actual places, but created as part of the myths that take shape in writers’ imaginations. On this walk we travel to parts of the areas of Raiguer and Tramuntana, but the texts help us soar far above. We discover non-existent place names like Bearn or Solnegre, which help us to understand better the Majorca portrayed in the works of two outstanding novelists: Llorenç Villalonga and Baltasar Porcel, who like two sides of a coin link their lives together and describe the many details of Majorcan society in their prose. It is also the walk of legends, of folk tales that take us from the wonder of the l’Avenc de Son Pou to where the ill-fated soul of the Comte Mal took root, in Galatzó.

CASA LLORENÇ VILLALONGA, Binissalem

BINISSALEM: Llorenç  Villalonga
ALARÓ: Guillem Colom
SON FORTEZA, ALARÓ: Joan Rosselló de Son Forteza
ORIENT: Llorenç ViIlalonga
AVENC DE SON POU: Llegenda
SANTA MARIA: Rondalla
GALATZÓ: Guillem Colom
SANTA PONÇA: Jaume I
ANDRATX: Baltasar Porcel
PORT D’ANDRATX: Cristóbal Serra
SANT ELM: Baltasar Porcel

Literary landscapes in the tramuntana

My mountains, my joy, my light!

While in Barcelona Bartomeu Rosselló-Pòrcel was homesick for his native Majorca: he remembered it anxiously, he invoked its outline and its unique light. And he yearned for one of the landscapes in Majorca most painted and sketched by both artists and writers: the Serra de Tramuntana. The walk takes us from Pollença and Formentor. where Costa i Llobera’s immortal ode to the great pine echoes all around, to that exquisite Sóller with its citrus scent and surreal images. We go down to Campanet’s square, a childhood arena; we follow the lines of olive trees to Caimari; we delve into a natural monument that seems from outer space, el Torrent de Pareis; and we end with a pleasing scene, a traveller’s well-deserved rest: coffee in hand, facing the bay of Port de Sóller, talking with Josep Pla…

CAN LLOBERA, Pollença

POLLENÇA: Miquel Costa i Llobera
FORMENTOR: Camilo José Cela
PORT DE POLLENÇA: Agatha Christie
ALCÚDIA: Miquel Costa i Llobera
CAMPANET: Llorenç Riber
CAIMARI: Josep Lluís Ponç I Gallarza
TORRENT DE PAREIS: Santiago Russinyol
FORNALUTX: Josep Carner
SÓLLER: Bartomeu Rosselló-Pòrcel
PORT DE SÓLLER: Josep Pla

Landscapes and poetics

Salt from the blue sea, soil from Majorca’s red earth

From Santanyí, the writer Blai Bonet radiated a poetic power that inspired many friends and artists. Around him gathered a creative group that was essential to the literary recovery in Majorca under the Franco regime. Blai Bonet, Bernat Vidal, Miquel Bauçà, Josep Maria Llompart, Damià Huguet… These are the names of local writers of the universal word: poets who make great the literature of this small Mediterranean island. The landscape is the basis for their poetry, which is imbued with a sense of the everyday, authentic tastes and smells: from sea salt to Majorca’s red earth… These are the places that inspired Maria Antònia Salvà, the female poet of the landscape and the soul; and Ramon Llull, the poet of contemplation and dialogue with human nature.

CENTRE DE POESIA CONTEMPORÀNIA, Santanyí

SANTANYÍ: Blai Bonet
CALA FIGUERA: Bernat Vidal i Tomàs
CALA MONDRAGÓ: Blai Bonet
FELANITX: Josep Maria Llompart
PORTOCOLOM: Miquel Bauçà
CAMPOS: Damià Huguet
COLÒNIA DE SANT JORDI: Damià Huguet
LLUCMAJOR: Maria Antònia Salvà
PUIG DE RANDA: Ramon Llull

Literary landscapes in the Llevant

Towers, caves and mountains

Manacor, the capital of Mallorca’s eastern Llevant, is a small literary city, where many writings have flourished. Walking through its streets we can sense genuine delights, verses of love and loneliness, a passion for an ardent language. Beyond the city limits, we hear the song of the land and everyday life in the fields. We will visit towers dedicated to art and to history, and they will be joined by well-known narratives. We will journey to the heart of the earth and climb mountain tops. We will see panoramic views of the eastern coast, imposing and wild nature, landscapes shaped by man’s hand, and both inhabited and deserted landscapes: nature in its human and cultural dimension.

INSTITUCIÓ ALCOVER, Manacor

CLAUSTRE DE SANT VICENÇ, MANACOR: Antoni Maria Alcover
PLAÇA, MANACOR: Miquel Àngel Riera
PLAÇA, MANACOR: Jaume Vidal Alcover
TORRE DE SES PUNTES, MANACOR: Gabriel Galmés
TORRE DELS ENAGISTES, MANACOR: Guillem d’Efak
COVES DEL DRAC, PORTOCRISTO: Paul Morand
SA TORRE, PORTOCRISTO: Miquel Àngel Riera
SA COMA – PUNTA DE N’AMER: Salvador Galmés
SANT LLORENÇ DES CARDASSAR: Salvador Galmés
ARTÀ: Rafel Ginard
COLÒNIA DE SANT PERE: Rafel Ginard

The oral culture of the Plain

Majorca in its own words

“To know the true history of Majorca’s collective soul, don’t dig through archives covered in dust and moths, but rather bath, immerse yourself in its folklore,” says Rafel Ginard, one of the greatest compilers of the island’s oral literature. His work recovered and conserved 20,000 traditional songs and rhymes, and in these we find the distillation of the land’s identity and history. The traditional songbook gives shape and substance to this walk through the heart of Majorca, the region of the Plain: a rural setting, scattered with small towns and villages who still uphold the island’s own voice, its language, its culture and its traditions. The walk takes us from Sant Joan, Ginard’s home town, to Algaida, through landscapes praised with a full range of sentiments: criticism, comedy, love, description…

CASA RAFEL GINARD, Sant Joan

SANT JOAN: Cançoner popular
CONSOLACIÓ, SANT JOAN: Cançoner popular
SINEU: Rondalla
ARIANY: Cançoner popular
PETRA: Cançoner popular
VILAFRANCA: Cançoner popular
PORRERES: Cançoner popular
MONTUÏRI: Cançoner popular
ALGAIDA: Pere Capellà – Mingo Revulgo